We begin our final week!

Happy Labor Day everybody! Today on the tour bus, Christmas carols were playing, so perhaps that was our guides' attempt to spread some American holiday cheer. I'll recap yesterday and today's events. Yesterday was fairly low key. Hannah continued to explore the hotel room and get into as much mischief as she could in our tiny space and Rob, God bless him, went to our guide De's room to do more paperwork. (It never ends!!!) All he can say is packing the White-out was the right call because I don't know if we've mentioned it, but our guides here in Guangzhou barely speak English and the translator is difficult to understand as well. Always fun when you're dealing with official paperwork in a communist country and you want to make sure you're getting it right. We also had to, without advance warning, scoop up Hannah, bring her across the street from the hotel and have her passport photos taken which should come out just great as I had zero time to clean her up and she had a boogie crusted nose and drool all over her onesie. Should be a lovely picture. I guess as long as it gets her to America, we'll go with the flow. Hannah took a much needed 3 hour nap and then we set out to order both our girls their "chops", which are personalized Chinese rubber stamps that come with ink and their Chinese zodiac animal carved on top. (Riley's a snake and Hannah's a rooster) The stamps have their names in both Western and Chinese characters - very cool. A nice man named "Michael" made them in 24 hours for us and did a great job. We ate out at a Thai restaurant last night called "Cow and Bridge" and loved it. Hannah especially enjoyed her chicken congee and iced coconut milk! Rob had the best Pa'tay of his life (and I quote). Today, we went to the Guangdong Folk Art Museum inside the Chen Clan Academy in Guangzhou. Great stuff!! It was built in the late 19th century (I don't think we're going to see anything truly ancient on this trip - next time, I guess) and it houses some really beautiful and extraordinary artwork. Rob and I were so happy to be able to see some art while we're here. After the museum, we went into the city for a bit of shopping and just picked up some baby books in English/Chinese, a CD of Guangdong style music which our guide really wanted us to get and some dipes and wipes. There's another big shopping excursion planned for Wednesday, but I think we're going to pass and rest up for the end of the week which will be jam packed with American consulate activities and celebratory river cruising!(I kid you not - we are heading out onto the Pearl River for a party on Thursday night!!!) We are posting a picture of the lobby of the White Swan Hotel to give you an idea of the swank accomodations. This place would be so relaxing if we weren't taking care of a baby! Practically everyone here is in the same boat as us, though, so it's a pretty strange scene at the breakfast buffet in the morning. Ripe material for a play, Rob thinks. Tomorrow, Hannah has her medical exam at the local hospital - let's hope she is as healthy as she seems. It's been such a blast getting to know her this past week. She is so much fun and very smart - she has already picked up the word "up"(hmm...wonder why...?) and calls me "Mama" and Rob "Rah" or "Bah" but we're working on the "Dada". She LOVES to play silly games and is extremely physical. We are soaking up the snuggly hugs and the way she just throws herself at us with a big smile on her face. I think we both expected to love her like crazy but never thought that she'd be loving us right back so soon. It's indescribable, the joy. We are so lucky to have her in our lives - she's amazing. And let's not forget that we have "double happiness" because of our amazing gal Riley who is due for a riddle. Here goes: When you say hello in Chinese, which part of your body does the first word sound like?